A project on biocomplexity in coastal
benthic populations. Sponsored by the US National Science Foundation

The Project

The
processes that govern the population dynamics of nearshore benthic species
-larval production and transport, larval settlement, disturbance, predation,
competition for space, etc- are each complex. For example, larval settlement
depends not only upon the rate of arrival of larvae, but also on the
availability of free substrate, larval behavior, and small-scale hydrodynamics.
Each of these processes is nonlinear, and has been studied separately. We
ourselves have been successful in identifying and characterizing some of these
processes. However, because each process is complex and operates at different
temporal and spatial scales, little progress has been made in understanding how
they may interact to produce patterns observed in benthic species. We are using
a combination of observational and mathematical techniques to increase our
understanding of these processes. We are also investigating whether alongshore
differences in recruitment, larval transport, and larval dispersal result from
the differences in local stratification, and whether the behavior of the larvae
interacting with the local stratification results in differences in larval
transport.

The project is over

The project is officially over. Still, some participants are writing papers, and new collaborations have flourished.